The headline at the progressive website, The Daily Blaze, could not be more bizarre:
“CNN’s Van Jones Secretly Helped Craft Trump’s Police Reform”
It implies that the idea that bi-partisan efforts to get justice reform is a bad thing. It argues, that working with Trump on anything is bad. Period. Regardless of how beneficial it is too everybody. This headline — with the word “secretly” — argues that Jones’ efforts were opaque, even that of a conspiracy. But a history of news stories on the topic shows that it was anything but secret.
In a pluralistic society there has to be cooperation from both parties if anything is going to get done. What does it say about a party if it has wholesale disapproval of such?
In the following video from May 2018, the headline is clear — “Van Jones is teaming up with the White House on prison reform.” That White House had Donald Trump as President in 2018. Jones even attended White House working meetings on the subject that were highly publicized.
Also, in 2018, we see this news video, which includes Jones at the White House, “Van Jones pledges to work with Trump.” If a secret, it is the worst kept secret of all time.
Seven months ago we see this on Jones’ TV show:
“Van Jones: It’s fair to give Trump credit when he does something right.”
Working “across the aisle” in a bipartisan fashion is the hallmark of free societies around the world. Not very long ago, placing disdain of any politician as a higher priority than prison reform is unfathomable.
To make matters worse, The Beast has dismissed those efforts as “weak,” when the GOP’s efforts had more in common than not with the Democrat’s bill. NPR notes:
“On June 8, Democrats unveiled a bill banning federal police from the use of chokeholds, lowering legal standards to pursue criminal and civil penalties for police misconduct, and prohibition of no-knock warrants in drug-related cases.
“The Republican proposal, on the other hand, uses incentives, federal reporting requirements and training to diminish the use of chokeholds, other dangerous restraints and no-knock warrants. It also boosts usage of police body cameras.
“The Republican measure also includes some provisions from the Democratic proposal, such as the creation of a national database to track police misconduct and a provision to make lynching a federal crime.”
Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC), the only black Republican in the Senate, has pointed out that, with the exception of one area, the bills’ promoted by the two parties have more in common than not. The Democrats’ want to dramatically lower the standards that have been established to protect law enforcement from liability. Most Americans support reform in this area, but not to the point that it will make it impossible to recruit quality people in law enforcement. The Democrats’ bill has the potential of doing just that.
In spite of the fact that the Republican’s bill was one of the most far reaching in this area in years, white US Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL) shockingly had the gall to describe Scott’s efforts as “token.” That expression carries its own racist history.
Durbin did finally apologize for his attack.
The state of US politics continues to reach a new low.
